The closing of Etch A Sketch production in Bryan is a story that has occurred thousands of times in the last 30 years in factory towns all across the U.S., particularly in the industrial Rust Belt, as factories after factories have closed down or reduced their workforce. The company now makes Etch A Sketch in Shenzhen, China, using a privately owned nonunion company that pays wages so low that it’s a bargain for Ohio Art. Today, those workers no longer have jobs at Ohio Art. The scabs made little impact on the strike, which ended a few weeks later with the usual compromises on each side. The scene still remains in my mind of some of the oldest women on the line walking slowly across the parking lot entrance, with a police officer patiently waiting, allowing one car at a time to enter, frustrating the scabs and the company. Even the police department cooperated in assuring that the imported scabs (strikebreakers) followed strict guidelines as they attempted to drive through picket lines to enter the plant. The struggle became a typical one, pitting the wealthy owner of the plant – who lived in the proverbial town mansion – against a hardscrabble workforce. When the workers went on strike during the 1980s, they exhibited great solidarity. It employed between 100 and 200 production workers, often including three generations from the same family. It thrilled our youngsters – and their parents and other adults – some 40 years ago and it still does today.įor years, it was an entirely U.S.A.-made, union-made product, done from start to finish at Ohio Art Company in Bryan, Ohio, a city of 8,000 located just off one of the first western exits of the Ohio Turnpike.Įtch A Sketch was the pride of the area, and likely Bryan’s best-known product. Perhaps the most successful, imaginative toy of all time has been Etch A Sketch.
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